ひともとと思ひし菊を大沢の
池の底にもだれか植ゑけむ
池の底にもだれか植ゑけむ
- Roma-ji
-
Hitomoto to omoishi kiku o Ōsawa no
ike no soko ni mo tare ka uekemu - English Translation
-
thinking it but one,
this chrysanthemum I saw—
in Ōsawa pond,
even on the pond’s deep floor,
who could have planted it so?
- Meaning
- I thought it was but a single chrysanthemum—yet in the depths of Ōsawa Pond as well, who could have planted it there?
- Commentary
-
Book Five Autumn Poems (Part Two)
A poem composed on seeing chrysanthemums planted in a suhama modeled after Ōsawa Pond.
Seeing the reflection of the chrysanthemums upon the surface of the pond, the poet expresses it as though someone had planted flowers even at the bottom of the water.
Ōsawa Pond is located near Daikaku-ji in present-day Sakyō Ward, Kyoto.
- Author
- Ki no Tomonori
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- drenched, I dry my robes on a mountain path, among chrysanthemums— within the space of this dew, when did I pass a thousand years?
- gazing on the flowers, while I wait for one to come— white as fine cloth sleeves, so I thought them and mistook what I saw before my eyes
- while autumn chrysanthemums shine in all their fragrance, I shall wear them— for I know not my own life, if it end before these flowers
- if I must pluck them, then at random I shall pluck— first frost has fallen, confusing all before my eyes, white chrysanthemums alike